DIY Penguin

Penguins are so fun in the classroom.  We had such a great time talking about all the different types of penguins, listening to penguins voices via you tube and making our very own version of penguins.  I gave the children some scraps of black and white paper, glue, scissors and let them at it.  I put their penguins up on a bulletin board along with word strips as border.  I asked them if they remembered what we had learned and boy did they remember!  Those words on the strips are their own.

Here is another cute penguin craft from a previous post!

Olllie the Octopus and Jumpy the Jellyfish

We were in an ocean mood last week so we talked about octopus and jellyfish.  Tentacles, muscles, stingers, stranglers, sizes, types...you name it we talked about it!  Boy were they ever enamored with the facts!  Here are two cute crafts we did...

Ollie the Octopus: Cutting a large circle, counting 8 tentacles, drawing "suckers" and rolling the tentacles (a  wonderful skill for little fingers!!).

 This is the rolling part.  Using a pencil to roll the tentacles proved to be a "time taker". Great pincer practice!

Jumpy the Jellyfish:  I'm pretty sure I found this on Pinterest...

Using a clear plastic umbrella shaped object, think bottom of a water bottle, apple container (what we used) or plastic applesauce cup glue strips of bubble wrap to the underside.  Cutting the bubble wrap was difficult for some of the kids, which I liked.  Sometimes they need to struggle a bit to figure things out. ;)  I also strung a piece of fishing line so it could be hung.

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Upcycle Your Old Calendars!

My mom recently gave me a stack of calendars.  Two of which are actually usable...wait...actually ALL of them!  2 are actually 2012, but the rest range from 2009-2011.  One of those calendars was a Dr. Seuss theme.  I quickly took all the pages off and brainstormed.  Here are some ideas I came up with:

Simple: Use pictures as decoration.  You could frame or just simply tape on the wall.  I put these three in our school library as Dr. Seuss' birthday is coming up.

Here I cut some photos up randomly to make puzzles:

These were cute little pictures of trees, balloons, animals, characters that I protected with contact paper and attached velcro (hook side) on the back.  Great use on a flannel board to make up your own story!

This was my favorite idea.  On the back of your calendar there are mini photos of all the months pictures, right?  So I color copied those pictures, cut them up and made it into a matching game!  I glued the color copy to a file folder and used the sturdy calendar pictures as the cards to match. 

I'm still thinking up some more....

Weekly Pinterest Favorites: Book Nooks and DIY Shelves

I've been working on revamping both the classroom library and a cozy book nook for my son at home.  I've found some great ideas on Pinterest both realistic and some that would probably on be a dream. :)  I also thought about space.  Some of us aren't blessed with it and have to find creative ways to find it!   I thought I'd share these with you.  Also, I've found some interesting ways to showcase your books.  Display is really important in getting there attention to books.  If you have them piled in a box they won't see them, hence they won't get read! 

**Please be kind to pin back to the original source, not from my blog.  You can always go to my pinterest account to repin, or simply go the original source to pin on your board.**

Oh, yes...I have put all these ideas onto my board titled "Pickles Corner".  Pickle is my son's nickname. ;)

Book Nook in a closet!

Source: thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com via Jessi on Pinterest

Book Nook IN a book shelf...Brilliant!!

Source: the-polka-dot-umbrella.blogspot.com via Jessi on Pinterest

Book Nook in a tent (portable!)

Source: flickr.com via Jessi on Pinterest

{Dream} Cloud book nook

Source: love-you-big.blogspot.com via Jessi on Pinterest

Book Nook in a hallway w/ DIY bookshelves!

Source: sara-mincy.blogspot.com via Jessi on Pinterest

Rain Gutter Book Shelves

Source: moneysavingmom.com via Jessi on Pinterest

IKEA Spice Rack Book Shelves: I have these at home.  Simple, holds plenty of books, sturdy!

Source: meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com via Jessi on Pinterest

DIY Book Shelves...but wait, couldn't you arrange them to make an "area" under and around for a cozy space w/ pillows and such?  Hmm...this is my favorite I think!

Source: 101woonideeen.nl via Jessi on Pinterest

Sorry those last two photos were so teeny tiny! 

Okay, that's all I'll put on here.  I could go on and on with all the fun pins I found.  If you would like to see more book nooks and diy shelves check out my finds here!

Owls...a different take on an old favorite

One of my all time favorite books is Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.  Owls are just my favorite.  I wore my owl belt, necklace, earrings..just to give the kids a clue as to what we were going to do that day.  They thought it was awesome! After we read Owl Moon we talked about the colors in the book, the trees (without leaves) and of course what the owl was doing.  There is a really neat process to make the trees in the story.  I did this project two years ago and thought I would do it again, but a bit differently.

Here is the first one (2 years ago):  You can see how we made this one here.

 

 

And here is what we did this time:

1. Start with watered down paint, fill it in a syringe, paper and a box
2. Holding paper downright in the box slowly squirt the paint moving the syringe back and forth.
3. After you have emptied the syringe, shake the paper side ways to get the drips to extend out to form branches.

4. The children added moons and owls.  Some were flying, some were perched and some had friends. :)

Whoot!  Whoot!

Marvelous Monsters!

Monsters are such a big part of a preschoolers imagination.  From pretending to be one to being afraid of them.  We talked about all aspects.   I carefully paid attention to make sure none of the children showed any signs of fear,even though all our monsters were very friendly. :)

 This idea was inspired by Jamie over @ hands on: as we grow.  Yarn Monsters!

A cup of (slightly) watered down glue with "dump" of glitter (HEY! no mess glitter!)

Smoosh the yarn into the cup so it gets covered, pull it out and "squeegy" the glue off. 

 Place the pile of yarn into a muffin tin so it gets a nice shape.  Let it dry over a few days. 

After they were completely dried, we added googly eyes and another piece of yarn to make necklaces!

Another messy monster project we did was Squash Monsters!

This idea comes from the typical paint drizzles on paper, fold over and squish type of art. Fun, magical and a{contained}mess!

1. drizzle paint on one side of a folded piece of paper

 2. SQUASH, SQUISH, STOMP, STAMP, etc. etc.

 3. Open and Admire your handy work!

 4. We used {PASTE!}to glue on some large "googly" eyes.  Using this type of glue is awesome for working on small motor skills.  (I think I might use it more often...it was fun!)

For more monster ideas check here!

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Weekly Pinterest Favorites: Lovely Valentines

It's just around the corner and I don't know about you, but I've got to get a move on all the Valentine projects I've got on my list!

**Please be kind to pin back to the original source, not from my blog.  You can always go to my pinterest account to repin, or simply go the original source to pin on your board.**

You Make My Heart "Bounce"

Source: thecraftingchicks.com via Jessi on Pinterest

I've had my eye on you

Source: dandee-designs.com via Jessi on Pinterest

I Love You THIS Much

Source: tiffkeetch.blogspot.com via Jessi on Pinterest

Love Bug

Source: dandee-designs.com via Jessi on Pinterest

I Dig You

Source: thefryfamilyblog.blogspot.com via Jessi on Pinterest

Disguises 

Source: skiptomylou.org via Jessi on Pinterest